Election for Giffords' seat a mercurial race

The hasty race to fill Gabrielle Giffords' former seat in Congress has set up a contest between her chosen Democratic successor and a mix of Republican candidates that could help to augur the outcome of other toss-up races throughout Arizona and the nation.

The district that covers part of Tucson, Sierra Vista and a section of the U.S.-Mexico border is nearly split between Republicans and Democrats.

Now, with a primary on Tuesday, candidates are scrambling to lock up the rest of their support, even as emotions remain raw over the 2011 shooting, which killed six and wounded 13, including Giffords. One GOP leader near Tucson choked up last month while wishing the three-term Democrat well before a debate among the four Republican candidates.

Giffords' announcement in January that she would step down to focus on her recovery threw the district, where she would have been a shoo-in for re-election, into a free-for-all. Four Republicans -- some with little name recognition, some who had to move back to the district -- jumped into the race. The Democratic field also quickly attracted candidates, but they all dropped out and threw their support behind Ron Barber, Giffords' former district director and the person she has endorsed to succeed her.

Barber, who also was injured in the shooting at Giffords' constituent event at a Safeway near Tucson, says he never intended to run for office.

But "we have deep roots in this community," said Barber, who took bullets to the leg and cheek. "For me it's about public service."

Before his work with Giffords, Barber spent more than three decades as a director with the Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities, ran a Tucson retail shop with his wife that sold second-hand children's clothing and advocated for mental-health issues.

After the shooting, Barber's family created a non-profit to promote civility. He promises he won't run personal attack ads on opponents.

Barber built up a war chest of $550,000, more than double any of his Republican challengers, positioning him well for the general election.

But plenty of GOP party and political action committee money is expected to flow to the Republican nominee after the primary.

And Republican critics argue Barber is too liberal a candidate for the districtand would be a "rubber stamp" for President Obama.

On the GOP side are four candidates:

State Sen. Frank Antenori, a retired Army Green Beret.

Jesse Kelly, a construction manager and former Marine, who lost to Giffords in 2010.

Martha McSally, a retired Air Force pilot and former professor of national security studies.

Dave Sitton, a University of Arizona broadcaster and owner of a marketing firm.

Antenori

Antenori, a project manager at Raytheon admired among some voters for his blunt style, cites a base of support in the Tucson legislative district that elected him for a second term in 2010 by a strong margin.

His legislative record proves he will balance budgets, limit regulations and be a "pit bull" in Washington instead of a "lap dog," Antenori said.

"I'm going to make enough noise up there that this district gets noticed and this district gets represented once and for all," he told a crowd of voters in Oro Valley.

Antenori's driving record has come under scrutiny. An opponent of red-light cameras, he earned several tickets for speeding and running a red light in recent years, as first reported in the Arizona Daily Star, including one that he failed to pay and should have lost his driver's license over. He has since paid the fine.

Antenori's shot of winning may be long, since his fundraising has been meager.

In a campaign finance report filed four days late, Antenori's campaign showed $37,000 raised. His Republican challengers raised between $133,000 and $261,000.

Kelly

Kelly had strong name recognition and a storage unit full of campaign supplies to start off the election after narrowly losing to Giffords last cycle. And he has spent more than any candidate in the GOP primary.

Kelly, an Iraq war veteran, has faced criticism since the January 2011 shooting for having invited supporters during his 2010 campaign to a fundraiser at a shooting range, where they could fire M16 rifles with him.

Following the tragedy, Kelly published a statement on his website offering his prayers to Giffords and her family.

Now that he's running again, he asks voters to help him "finish the job" of taking back the seat for Republicans.

Kelly's opponents like to point out he spent months in Texas, where he was managing a construction project for his family's business. Kelly counters he had to go where his job sent him.

"We have an unlimited supply of wealth in this nation," he said. "Get the EPA out of the way. ... It solves everything we need."

McSally

McSally, who was the first female fighter pilot in combat, has gained traction with her brand of conservative feminist spunk.

She made headlines when she said she'd like to kick GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum "in the jimmy" for not supporting women in combat and jokes that traditional marriage should be described in a different order as "between one woman and one man." She likes to tout that she took the Department of Defense to court over a requirement for woman service members to wear traditional robes and head scarves when deployed in the Middle East.

McSally was virtually unknown in the district before she began campaigning. She spent four assignments at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base but was deployed much of the time to the Middle East and Africa and spent a year as a security adviser in Washington in Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl's office.

She had retired from the military and was living in Germany teaching on international and national security issues when Giffords announced her resignation. She promptly quit her job to run.

McSally touts herself as a Republican who can appeal to independents and talks about issues as being "complex" and needing to be studied. She is at home with international topics but admits she has room to learn about some domestic policies.

Some voters say McSally appears to have a better chance of winning in the general election against a Democrat.

Sitton

Sitton was involved little in politics but a lot in the community before deciding to run.

The longtime announcer of the Wildcats has lived in Tucson for 38 years, the longest of the GOP candidates. He owns a marketing firm, advocates for cancer research, has been a supporter of Davis-Monthan and volunteers in the arts.

Sitton was recruited by Republican donor and car-dealership owner Jim Click, whose support helped launch the candidate to the top fundraising spot in the Republican field with $261,000.

Click wields significant influence in local politics, though his candidates don't always win.

Sitton champions himself as a small-business booster, with more than 240 local companies endorsing him and a 10-point plan for the economy with recommendations such as simplifying the tax code.

"We need the maximum number of Americans paying the least amount of taxes possible," he said. Now that mortgage rates aren't as high as they used to be, "maybe it's time to start looking at some of the deductions."

Though Sitton can be animated when he speaks, he sometimes strikes a more grandfatherly aspect, leading some voters to question his "fire in the belly" to fight battles in Washington.

Too close to call

The special election on June 12 will potentially provide a sneak peek into voter sentiment nationwide.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has already sent operatives to begin setting up a grass-roots operation for the June election.

Daniel Scarpinato, spokesman for the NRCC, said the district's slight GOP voter-registration edge and history of voting for Republican presidential candidates will work in the conservative candidate's favor.

"We had a real close race last time," Scarpinato said. "It's not a walk in the park for either side, but it's a district Republicans have won in. ... It is not the kind of district you walk away from because it's competitive."

Scarpinato said voters will choose the Republican party because of issues like unemployment, Obama's health-care bill, gas prices and "the lack of an energy policy out of this administration that takes advantage of American-made energy."

"On those issues we win," he said.

On the other side, Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Barber is poised to beat any of the Republican candidates.

"Democrats can and will hold the seat because of the strength of our candidate and because (Republicans) have to choose between four candidates who are each more out of touch than the other," Ferguson said.

He said GOP proposals for privatizing Social Security and Medicare and supporting tax breaks for the rich turn voters off.